Save the Morales Shakur Center Zine

8/13/2019 Save the Morales Shakur Center Zine

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Save the Guillermo

Morales-AssataShakur Student &Community Center!

DefendStudent &

CommunityVoice!

#savemscc#ccnyshutdown#reasons4


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Guillermo Morales/Assata

Shakur Student & Community

Center (MSCC) Fact Sheete MSCC was founded on February 14, 1990 by the Students for Educational Rights (SER).A sign within the MSCC stating, THIS SPACE WAS WON THROUGH STRUGGLE,referred to how CCNY students 1989 successfully led a CUNY-wide struggle against tuitionhikes.e MSCC was in 3/201 of the North Academic Building at CCNY.e SER won a legal settlement with CCNY and the City University of New York (CUNY)

that made the MSCC a fully sovereign safe space, separate from CCNY and CUNY.e MSCC is a Nonsectarian Collective of organizations, groups, and individuals that helpto build strong voices against poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, imperialist wars, the pris-on industrial complex, police brutality and FBI repression, the military industrial complex,budget cuts, and reduction in social services.e MSCC is named aer Guillermo Morales and Assata Shakur, two revolutionaries whohave fought for the liberation and self-determination of all people oppressed by racism, impe-rialism, and colonialism.e MSCC was attacked in 2006, when CCNY administration stole its name sign. en, onOctober 20th, 2013, the MSCC was ocially raided, shutdown, and taken over by CCNY.

Victories and Achievements:CCNY Library Hours Extended24/7 Library Hours During Midtermand Finals WeeksBlocking Printing FeesPreventing the Elimination of the Mar-

shak Library at CCNYGender Neutral BathroomsInclusion of Gender Identity in CCNYAnti-Discrimination Policy

Ongoing Projects and Services Provided

at the Center:Reinstitution of CUNY-wide Free Tuition & OpenAdmissionsReinstitution of the Black Studies, Asian Studies,and Womens Studies Departments @ CCNY

Creation of a Multicultural Gender ResourceCenterStudent & Community Youth AdvocacyAdvocacy & Freedom for All U.S. Held PoliticalPrisoners/POWs & Exilese Peoples Survival ProgramBook X Change (Alternative to CCNYs Book-store)English as a Second Language ClassesAccessible Research & Study SpaceAnti-Police Terror & Community Control of theNYPD WorkshopsSoup KitchensA Safe Space for LGBTQCommunity and Solution BuildingLow-cost Farm Food Sharing Program

Know Your Rights TrainingsCan Food and Clothing Drives


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What is the Morales/Shakur Center?

eMorales/Shakur Centerwas won in 1989 through a student andcommunity occupation led by the club Students for EducationalRights (SER). It was established as a student and community Cen-ter, aiming to ght back against a college administration that wasand continues to decrease community access to the institutionthrough tuition increases and budget cuts. roughout the years,the Center has been a space thats housed political education pro-grams, a soup kitchen, a farm share, know-your-rights trainings,healing circles, campus activism, can and clothing drives, newspa-pers, support for political prisoners and so much more.

Because of the activism that has come out of the Center, SER hasprevented the further criminalization of black and brown youth,printing fees, the elimination of the Marshak Library, and the rais-ing of the student activity fee. SER has also won (until most recent-ly) extended library hours and 24/7 library during midterms andnals week, gender neutral bathrooms on campus, the inclusion ofgender identity in our anti-discrimination policy, and much morethroughout the years. Plans to institute a Multicultural GenderResource Center on campus have been ground to a halt since thetakeover.

Our S/HeroesAssata Shakur was born on July 16, 1947 inJamaica, Queens, as JoAnne Deborah Byron. Inthe 1960s, Assata attended the CUNY Boroughof Manhattan Community College and then theCUNY City College of New York, where shewanted a name that had something to do with

struggle, something to do with the liberation ofour people. [see Assata: An Autobiography] Shedecided to change her name to Assata Olugba-la Shakur; Assata means She who struggles,Olugbala means Love for the people, andShakur means the thankful.

Assata eventually joined the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Army,and the Republic of New Afrika. On May 2, 1973, Assata was shot by policy andfalsely charged with the murder of a New Jersey State Trooper. She was torturedand incarcerated for six years until 1979, when she nally escaped her chains.

She then ed to Cuba for political asylum in 1984, where she now lives in exile.

Guillermo Morales, born in 1950, also attended CCNY, and was one of the stu-dents who, along with organizations like the Black Panther Party, organized thehistoric strike by Black and Puerto Rican students at CCNY in 1969 that forcedCUNY to implement Open Admissions and establish Ethnic Studies depart-

ments and programs in all CUNY colleges. Morales eventually became a PuertoRican nationalist and member of the Armed Forces of National Liberation(FALN). On July 12, 1978, he was incarcerated for accidently detonating a bombthat blew away one eye and all ten ngers. Like Assata, Morales later escapedprison in 1979, and went to Cuba in 1988 where he now lives in exile.

Guillermo Morales and Assata Shakur grew up during a time when the U.S.government killed everyone from Black and Latino people, such as Malcolm X,Martin Luther King Jr., and Pedro Albizu Campos, to Asian people in Vietnam,to even the countrys own president, John F. Kennedy. Morales and Shakur expe-rienced an era of terror and violence that inuenced them to ght in self-defensefor their communities. ey are living testaments of revolutionary struggle.

Assata Shakur and

Guillermo Moralesposing for a picture(both have political

asylum in Cuba)


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What happened to theMorales/Shakur Center?

Early in the morning of Sunday October 20, 2013, the City College adminis-tration took over the Center under orders from CUNY Central. The NorthAcademic Center, which houses the Morales/Shakur Center and the Cohenlibrary, were both lockdowned by the Office of Public Safety. Although thelibrary has since reopened, the Morales/Shakur remains closed.

Police, CUNY Security, and ad-ministrators have been refusingto let students into the Morales/Shakur Center, and have alreadydetained a former and currentCCNY student. e administra-tion has placed a sign in front ofthe Morales/Shakur Center thatreads Careers & ProfessionalDevelopment Institute. A Uni-

versity representative informedstudents in a press release that theMorales/Shakur center has been

closed and will be designated fur-thermore as a Career Resourcecenter.

Books, documents,and personal be-longings of studentswere removed fromthe center and arebeing held andexamined.

October 21, 2013

Dear Colleagues,

A room in the North Academic Center (NAC) has been reallocated for the expansion of theCity College Careers and Professional Development Institute to provide additional servicesto students seeking assistance in transitioning from college to the workplace. City Collegestudents have every access to campus facilities and are encouraged to use existing proce-dures to schedule meetings and events.

Launched in spring 2012, the Careers and Professional Development Institute is located inthe rst oor of the NAC on campus. e expansion now includes an additional oce onthe third oor of the NAC for students involved in experiential learning. e expansionprovides a quiet space for City College students to meet with alumni and professional em-ployers to talk about internships and seek advice on various careers. e close proximity tothe rst oor oce is convenient, useful and practical.

City College is committed to meeting the needs of students by ensuring they have the re-sources and professional assistance to get a job in their elds of study upon graduation.

e move took place during the weekend so that it would be less disruptive to the college.All the previous contents from the third oor room prior to the expansion are in storage forsafekeeping and will be returned appropriately.

City College remains committed to its mission of supporting free speech, students rights toprotest, and being responsive to the community as exemplied by the year-round activitiesand events hosted by the college.

Sincerely,

Deirdra HillVice President for Communications and Marketinge City College of New York160 Convent Avenue

Letter to Faculty from

Deirdra Hille following letter was sent to faculty on Mon-day the day aer the Center was broken into. Nostudents were notied of this expansion. Severalcampus policies and federal laws were violated.


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Students Organizeto Demand Center Back

Student/Faculty/Community Teach-in @ CCNY

Students across CUNY andSUNY campuses have beenorganizing non-stop sincethe illegal take over of our

center. We have launched aseries of speaks outs, sit ins,and teach ins to reclaim thespace on campus, as ouradministration is increas-ingly displacing our com-munity.


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Outrage ThroughoutCUNY

is exercise of totalitarian power is unacceptable and a direct violation to therights of our CUNY students. SGA of BMCC condemns this action because ifle alone, this will become a precedent that will ser ve to justify similar, futureadministerial injustices and thus negatively impacting our CUNY studentposterity. [...] is action thusly circumvents and undermines our CUNY stu-dent democracy. -Eduardo Viera, Treasurer, Student Government Association(BMCC)

Todays action by the CCNY administrationtaking over student space without

the consent of the Student Government and the student groups which use thatspaceis deplorable and incomprehensible. [...] Student spaces need to berespected and preserved, not violated and destroyed. -David Rosenberg, Presi-dent, CLAS Student Government (Brooklyn)

e Center was our base for years when we were organizing up in the Heightswith la Union de Jovenes Dominicanos. All Fall the students and communityhave used the center as home base to protest the presence of General Petraeus atCity College and this is the push-back. Now we have to push-back even harder.(Junot Diaz)

Without the Center, there would not be a Black Student Union. e closure ofthis space is signicant because it violates our rights as students.We are appalledby the actions of the City College of New Yorks administration, and are activelyworking with a collective coalition; made up of community members, students,faculty and sta across CCNY, as well as the City University of New York cam-puses, and the public at large; that are dedicated towards the reinstallation ofthe Morales Shakur Community Center. Zirayyide, President, Black StudentUnion (CCNY)

e use of police to close the Center, and to change the name and close thecampus in order to do so, speaks to an unacceptable, undemocratic climate ate College that must be publicly rejected. Because the students who meet andtalk at the Center are oen known for expressing dissent, the closing of the Cen-ter is an obvious suppression of the freedom of expression that is the mainstayof a democratic university. -Professors Elizabeth Starevi, Alan Feigenberg, &William Crain (CCNY)

What The Take Over Of Our Center

Means In The Larger ContextOur college administration has not only taken away a free speech as our right toprotest was stied, but all students had rights violated with universal degradationof human rights. e illegal taking over of the Morales Shakur space is a viola-tion of the contract between CCNY and the center and signies the corporatiza-tion of our campus. On November 25th the Board of Trustees is going to pass ameasure to limit political expression on a public university. Our administrationhas taken to making use of baton and happy trigger public safety juxtaposed to

the increase of NYPD on campus.

We are not only facing an attack on a community and student run center, but anattack on our rights in a Public University. As corporate r ight wing interest thattoy with the strings to our futures, as the Board of Trustees measure hangs in theair like a threat. is is a sham democracy, a corporate democracy that puts theinterests of the people that are the board of trustees, who use law and order to re-press students and ll our campus with more NYPD and public safety ocers. Itis an attack on education, to decrease public goods and services and defund pub-lic education to make space for corporate interest who wish to increase our tui-tion while the quality of our education goes down the toilet. We must put an endto the criminalization of dissent, and put an end to our administrations loyaltyto prot and property over students right to protest and political expression. eadministration has made it clear that they are committed to cementing a legacyof repression. Where students are locked out of a public university, and wherewe have the right to protest under the rst amendment, and access the space asstudents and community members. We are in a civic recession, where a war has

been launched to stie the sound of injustice, where our democracy has been hi-jacked by our administration and our countrys leaders as our heroes, GuillermoMorales and Assata Shakur who have resisted, and have survived and have won,are characterized as terrorist. e take over and illegal raid of our center is nodierent from the attacks launched by the state through COINTELPRO to targetand eliminate freedom ghters as the ideology of law and order was put down tocriminalize dissent and political prisoners. is is grounded in a colonizers logic,in the colonizers imagination that does not stop and think about what was therebefore, but relies on the displacement, removal, and criminalization of black andbrown bodies in order to establish institutions of repression.

-Natasha AdamsStudents For Educational RightsVice President


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Organizations DisplacedBy Takeover

16 Days of Activism Against Gender ViolenceAd-hoc Committee Against the Militarization of CUNY

Ad-hoc Committee for a Multicultural Gender Resource CenterBlack Panther Commemoration Committee

Black SouljahzBlack Student Union @ CCNYCampus Agricultural Network

Community Vision CouncilCorbin Hill Farmshare

Healing Drum CollectiveJericho Movement

Malcolm X Commemoration CommitteeMalcolm X Grassroots Movement

New Black Panther PartyNosotr@s L@s Pobres

People Power MovementRadical Women

Revolutionary Student Coordinating CommitteeSaya Bukhari-Albert Nuh Washington Foundation

Sekou Odinga Defense CommitteeStudents for Educational Rights

United Muslim AllianceUniversal Zulu Nation

Next StepsUntil the CCNY administration re-sponds to our demands, we willcontinue organizing on several levels:

1) Legal: Our Legal team is workingaround the area of the infringement

of our rights of free speech, the illegalseizure of private property as well asan infringement on the contract thatthe center has with CCNYs adminis-tration, and the overall degradation ofhuman rights.

2) Political Education: ough many students are absorbed in mid-terms and unaware of the true depth of the events that are happen-ing, we are connecting with groups on and o the CCNY campusto get student support, raise awareness, and build for future actions.

3) Community: Weve received a lot of support from communityorganizations and residents, and we must strengthen those connec-

tions to make CCNY open its doors once and for all.

4) Media and Outreach: We are launching a series of events andhope to document everything that happens until we get our centerback and our demands are met.

To add your ideas and energy to this work and to plug into at leastone of the above areas of organizing, please email:[email protected] for more info and directionsliberateCUNYfront.comfacebook.com/liberatecunyfrontcitycollegeser.wordpress.com/about


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Demands

As is t, SER and Liberate CUNY Front havedraed up a list of demands that will con-tinue to inform all further activities related

to liberating the Morales/Shakur Student &Community Center.

1. Reclaim the Morales/Shakur CommunityCenter with its original name.

2. Reclaim all stolen property and resourcesfrom the Morales/Shakur CommunityCenter.

3. Require administration to stop thecriminalization of dissent and prevent theExpressive Activities Policy at CUNY.

4. An apology from CCNY administrationfor closing the Morales/Shakur CommunityCenter and CCNY Library.

So What Can We Do?

It is important to remember that SER and the organizers who workout of the Morales/Shakur Center ght for our communities. Weare urging the student body, faculty, sta, alumni, andcommunity members to join us in taking back a space steeped instruggle, where so many would-be organizers have grown asindividuals and done good in their communities; where thepossibility of change feels real; where we receive the genuine loveand support so oen lacking in the self-preserving institutionswhose oppressive actions we must constantly endure.

What we need to do is unite and share knowledge of whats beenhappening. Share news articles, let the folks around you knowwhats going on, get the people in power you know to issuestatements of solidarity with our struggle, wear red squares tosymbolize the door that was taken away from us, and if you want toget deeply involved, email [email protected] and well gure out where youre needed most. I would alsocontact the ones who ordered our space removed--Chancellor Wil-

liam Kelly and President Lisa Coico--to tell them how you reallyfeel.


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CUNY Chancellor William KellysOce205 East 42nd StreetNew York, NY 10017

Phone: 646.664.9100Fax: [email protected]

CCNYs President Lisa Coicos OceCity College of New York160 Convent AvenueWillie Administration Building, Rm.

A300New York, NY 10001Phone: [email protected]

The Short of It

CUNY is composed of 20 schools located on 18 campuses in all 5 boroughs of NYC. ese include6 community colleges (Hostos, Borough of Manhattan Community College BMCC, Bronx Com-munity College BCC, Queensborough, Kingsborough, LaGuardia), 11 senior colleges (City College CCNY, Hunter, Brooklyn, Queens, York, Baruch, Lehman, New York Technical College City Tech,Medgar Evers, John Jay, and the College of Staten Island CSI), and 3 graduate schools (the GraduateCenter, CUNY Law School @ Queens, and CUNY Medical School @ CCNY).

History of CUNY 1847 Free Academy founded (later CCNY)

1861 1865 Civil War; 1865 Emancipation Proclamation issued 1870 Normal Schools founded (later Hunter) 1914-1919 World War I 1929-1930s Great Depression 1929 Bronx campus of Hunter College added (became independent Lehman College in 1968) 1930 Brooklyn College founded 1937 Queens College founded 1935-1945 World War II 1954 U.S. Supreme Court rules against separate but equal doctrine (Brown v. Board of Education) 1956 Staten Island Community College incorporated into CUNY (became CSI and began to offer B.A.s in 1976) 1957 BCC added to CUNY system 1958 Queensborough added to CUNY 1960-1975 Vietnam War 1964 Kingsborough Community College & BMCC founded City Tech & John Jay added to CUNY 1965 SEEK & CD programs initiated to gradually integrate CUNY 1966 York College founded 1968 Baruch (previously an extension of City College) added to CUNY as an independent college 1969 Campus takeover at CCNY by 250 black and Puerto Rican students resulted in CUNY-wideOpen Admissions Policy & creation of ethnic studies programs; CCNY renamed Harlem University 1970 Hostos Community College & Medgar Evers College founded 1973 LaGuardia Community College founded 1976 First non-white majority of incoming freshmen Tuition rst imposed due to NYCs scal crisis Hostos, Medgar Evers, John Jay, & York saved by student protest 1989 Student protest & building takeovers led to defeat of proposed tuition hike 1991 Student protest & building takeovers scaled back tuition hike 1995 Massive student rally restored TAP funding that was going to b e cut and deferred anothertuition increase 1998 Guiliani administration eliminated all remedial classes at the senior colleges eectively endingOpen Admissions 2003 Tuition was raised $400/semester in spite of student protest (the proposed hike was $600/se-mester) 2005 Undergrads barely escaped ANOTHER tuition hike & withholding of TAP Per-credit (part-time) & graduate tuition WAS raised; so were undergraduate student fees

Information brought to you by Students for Education Rights (SER) and

the Student Liberation Action Movement (SLAM!)


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HISTORY OF CUNY QUIZWhen the Free Academy was founded in 1847, its stated mission wasa.to educate all who meet the standards.b. to educated the children of the whole people.c. To train the next generation of leaders.d. to prepare the workforce of tomorrow.

Remediation

a. Reinforces academic standards by preparing new high school graduates, re-turning adult students, and recent immigrants by helping develop the language,critical thinking, and problem-solving skills required for college courses.b. Is no longer oered at CUNY senior colleges as of 1998.c. Is oered at most U.S public AND private universitiesd. All of the above

e following was NOT a demand of the 1969 Open Admissions Strike atCCNYa. CUNY should open admissions to all graduates of NYC public high schoolsb. e proportion of Black and Puerto Rican students in the freshman classshould at least equal their proportion in NYC public high schoolsc. A separate School of ird World Studies should be created.d. All Education majors must take courses in the Spanish language and Blackand Puerto Rican History

In 1976, NYC residents experienced a major budget crisis and suered drastic

cuts in public services. What happened in UCNY that year?a. Tuition was implemented for the rst timeb. e rst majority non white freshmen class entered CUNY.c. Enrollment dropped from 250,000 to 170,000d. All of the above

In response to a $200/year tuition hike approved by the state legislature in 1989:a. Students took over buildings and/or oces at 13 of the 20 CUNY campuses,resulting in the suspension of classes at several collegesb. 5,000-10,000 students marched downtown NYC.c. Governor Cuomo vetoed the tuition hikesd. All of the above

History of CUNYIn 1847, the Free Academy was es-tablished under pressure to providehigher education, and therefore,social mobility for immigrants. emission statement is to educate the

underprivileged and working classesof the city. Until the 1960s the col-lege fullled its mission successfully,but only for predominantly whitestudents. In the 60s, the racial makeup of the college was 92% white and2% black. 1965 saw the beginning ofthe Search for Education, Elevationand Knowledge (SEEK) program,which moderately sought to inte-grate the college. By 1969, the stridesmade were not sucient to make adierence within the student bodyand the surrounding community.

e Black and Puerto Rican Student Community(BPRSC) took the initiative by listing 5 demandsto integrate the college. Aer 6 months of inactiv-ity by the administration, the students occupiedbuildings, renamed them, and held classes runby students and some faculty for residents of the

neighborhood. e occupation lasted two weeksand forced the administration to cede to the stu-dents demands. Open Admissions was establishedand a major victory gained in the Civil Rightsmovement. Open Admissions was met by manysetbacks at rst, which were taken by politiciansas a failure of the program. Despite the ill wishes,Open Admissions successfully integrated the uni-versity system, and by 1976, the entering freshmanclass was predominately people of color. From1847 to 1976, tuition was free despite the 1893depression, WWI, the Great Depression, WWII,Korea and Vietnam. Coincidentally, 1976 was theyear that tuition was imposed due to the articialnancial crisis the city was facing. Enrollmentdropped from 250,000 to 180,000, and massivebudget cuts were imposed, a devastating blow tothe people of New York and the university system,from which it has not yet recovered. Since tuition was imposed, CUNY stu-dents have suered regular tuition increases andattacks on our funding, following the pre-OpenAdmissions pattern of racism, exclusions, andelitism. - Article from Freedom Road




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Open Admission in CUNYA Major Victory of the Opressed

When the history of civil rights struggle is summarized on corporate television, there willinevitably be footage of sit-ins at Greensboro lunch counters and of MLKs I have a Dream speech.If the viewer is very lucky, there might be scenes of Malcom X or the Black Panther Party. But one ofthe most important battles of the freedom movements of the Black and Puerto Rican communitiesthat you will never hear about in such places is the CUNY open admissions strike. Before 1970, CUNY was a sea of whiteness in a city that was fast becoming majoritypeople of color; It was a scene straight out of South African Apartheid. City college was known as

the white Rhodesia of Harlem.: is despite CUNYs stated mission from the very beginning ofproviding higher education to the poor and disenfranchised of the city. In practice, this missionwas limited to educating mainly poor and disenfranchised white men. It is no wonder then that theclosed doors of CUNY became a major target of the burgeoning mass movements of the city. On April 22, 1968, the Black and Puerto Rican students of City College, with supportfrom the progressive section of the white students chained shut the doors of South Campus, re-named the school the University of Harlem, and declared a strike. Over the course of more than two weeks, the campus witnessed the campus turned intoa police state by the administration, a divided faculty, and furious organizing on the part of thestudents. e turning point was a pitched battle between about 30 black students and a mob of acouple hundred white racist opposed to the strike. e strikers routed the white mob. Subsequently,divisions in the opposition began to sharpen, and some of them came out in support of the strike.Eventually the administration caved in and acceded to the ve demands of the strikers.

Why was the open admissions strike so important?

Open admissions forced CUNY to turn itself into an institution that gave more degrees to students ofcolor than any other higher education institution in the country. In fact, CUNY grants more such

degrees than the next two institutions aer it, SUNY and the whole of Cal state system, combined.e direct benet to the Black, L atino, and Asian populations of all hundreds of thousands of peoplecoming out of CUNY with a hig her education they might not otherwise have is immeasurable.

Open admissions was a victory for the self determination strugglesof Black and Puerto Ricans. But asoen the case, this victory on the part of some of societies most downtrodden was one that servedeverybody in the end. ats a lesson the white supremacist ruling class wants us to forget.

Open admissions set a standard of open accessthat created momentum for schools across the countryto follow. e shock waves the victory sent out were felt both as pressure on other administrationsand as inspiration to thousands of students of color everywhere ghting to open up their owninstitutions.

Open admissions challenged the reigning capitalist viewthat education is about providing the studentcustomer with a diploma that has the highest possible exchange value so the graduate can turn him-self into an elite corporate commodity. In its place it put forward the radical notion that educationis about self improvement on the individual level, about all of us becoming the best, most developedindividuals we can become. More than that, education is about the upli of the downtrodden com-

munities, about the advancement of oppressed people in our society.

Open Admission in CUNYContinued

Open admission taught a lesson that relatively small numbers of people at the core of a muchbroader struggle, with the right strategy and under appropriate conditions, can shake the foundationsof heaven. It gives us an inspiring lesson against demoralization, that fundamental change in institutionsis possible and that it always starts with a relative handful of committed people. On the other hand, itreminds us that if that handful is to succeed, it must not stay isolated. In the end, victory can only beachieved through the involvement and support of the broad masses of p eople whose interests are atstake. e open admissions victory was won in the context of an entire society in motion. Without thatcontext, the support from the community, which was absolutely essential to the victory, wouldnt havebeen nearly as broad nor as active as it w as.

Since the 1969 victory, the enemy has been trying to beat us back, in one attack aer another.We must ght them every step of the way. Even battles we ght and lose are important because theyslow and limit the advances of the ru ling class against our interests, and preserve as much of our gainswon earlier as possible. Even today, aer years of retreat and an outright frontal assault on open admis-sions by former Mayor Giuliani, we still have many aspects of the policy preserved, even as others havebeen damaged or eliminated entirely. is way, when the next big upsurge throughout society comes

around (and its likely to be so oner rather than later), we will have a higher starting point from which topush things forward.

ese days, the visions of higher education as liberation, which motivated the heroes of 1969,has been largely crushed. e white supremacist ruling class has done e verything it can to bury that

vision under mountains of talk about diversity and armative action. In their view, higher educa-tion is about reproducing the layers of elitesthe ruling class itself and the various managerial layersbelow themneeded to perpetuate the r ule of their class. Within this vision, giving an elite educationto a fraction of the oppressed nationality populations in this country is crucial to them for a number ofreasons. First, giving elites exposure to a diversity of populations and cultures gives them experiencesand knowledge that that will help them more eectively rule over and manage those populations. Sec-ond, granting privileges to a small proportion of the oppressed nationality people helps to buy o someof the leaders of those populations and thus to create a class of vendidos that can be led to act againstthe interests of the communities they come from. Finally, a measure of diversity is useful to provide afaade to the existing white-supremacist system, to make it appear to be fair to anyone who do esnt takethe time to look beneath the surface.

e main mechanism in higher education the ru ling class uses to achieve this diversityis armative action. It is interesting to see corporate elites defending armative action programs inhigher education and in corporate hiring policies as being in their interests, against the more clueless

white supremacists on the ideological right who attack these programs. We should keep in mind whenwe defend armative action programs in other places (as defend them we must) that they are but a paleshadow of the open admissions policy that was won at CUNY.

ere is a nal lesson that has been taught to us not so much by the 1969 strike but by allof the years of retrenchment since then. Mass student organizations come and go. Leaders graduateand move on. Relationships and alliances with other mass-based groups on other campus and in thecommunities dissipate. e 1969 struggle and all the subsequent struggles in CUNY have turned outthousands of revolutionaries who understand the real nature of white-supremacist bourgeois rule andwho have a vision for a fundamentally dierent society. Some of those revolutionary students haveremained committed and have fought the good ght in other places, but many have dropped out of thestruggle, with nothing le but memories of re.

e only certain way to build a movement that can be sustained over the years, and onethat can connect the struggles throughout all sectors of society, is through revolutionary organization.It provides the training, the information ow across the generations, the links between sectors thatotherwise arent made. If youre an activist and you consider yourself a revolutionary, you should be in arevolutionary organization, looking for one, or tr ying to build one, along with maintaining your work ina mass-based group. ats how we will create two, three, many CCNYs.




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This is what you Need To Read to be aspecialist in the Unspoken Forgotten

Struggle for CUNY NYCs Biggest Secret1969 Student Strikes

Open Admissions: A Case Study in the Politics of Race in Higher Education AllenBallardApril 22, 1969 Some Memories Ron McGuirehttp://cunyunderground.proboards3.com/index.cgi?board=history&action=display&-thread=1080602040Te Struggle At CUNY: Open Admissions & Civil Rights Ron McGuirehttp://cunyunderground.proboards3.com/index.cgi?board=history&action=display&-

thread=1086628844Demands of the Black and Puerto Rican Student Community of Harlem University (For-merly the City College of New York) BPRSC April-May 1969http://cunyunderground.proboards3.com/index.cgi?board=history&action=display&-thread=1080095416

1976 Te Battle for Hostos Community College

Hostos Community College: Battle of the Seventies - Ramon J. Jimenezhttp://cunyunderground.proboards3.com/index.edi?board-history&action-display&-thread-1083607504Save Hostos: Politics and Community Mobilization to Save a College in the Bronx, 1973-1978- Gerald Meyer Centro Journal Volume XV Number 1 Spring 2003 (Found in ElCentro, Hunter College)

1989-1991 Student Strikes:

I Dont Want to be a Biscuit babe: Te CUNY Strike Paul R. Loeb

1995 and Beyond

A Brief History of SLAM! Christopher DayTe Struggle of the CUNY Student Movement 1969-1999 Christopher GundersonA Perspective on Mayor Giulianis Relationship with the City University of New York Aka-ra Alleni Holder a.k.a (Master Tesis Spring 2004 Queens College)

Open Admissions

CUNY 1969 Open Admissions Resolution N. Michael Carfora (Secretary of the Board ofEducation) July 9, 1969VideoClosing the Open Door Ellie BernsteinOpen Admissions in CUNY: A Major Victory for the Oppressed Freedom Road

[*means that these documents were available at the Assata Shakur Guillermo MoralesCenter, however, because our center and its property have been illegally conscated, you

can nd these sources on the world wide web/internet]

Brought to you by the Student Liberation Action Movement (SLAM!)& www.CUNYunderground.org

2006 Attack onthe Center

A student center at City College of New York (CCNY) is under political attack from the gutterpress, the cops and the City University (CUNY) administration because of its name.

As a result of the successful CUNY-wide student protest against tuition hikes in 1989, the City Col-lege group that initiated the struggle was given permanent use of a centrally located oce room.ey named it the Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Community and Student Center, aer twoformer CCNY students who had become political prisoners as ghters for Puerto Rican indepen-dence and Black liberation.

eir backgrounds in brief: Morales was a member of the FALN, a Puerto Rican liberation groupthat took responsibility for several bombings in New York and nearby in the 1970s. Shakur hadbeen a member of the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army. She had been charged withseveral bank robberies and other crimes, but was acquitted every time. en in 1973, when she andtwo comrades were driving on the New Jersey Turnpike and were pulled over by state troopers,shootings broke out. Assatas companion, Zayd Malik Shakur, was killed by the cops; Assata waswounded. She and the other comrade, Sundiata Acoli, were caught and arrested. A cop who hadarrived at the scene ended up dead, shot by persons unknown.

Assata and Sundiata were charged with both killings, even though defense witnesses who provedthat she had not red a gun were unchallenged by the prosecution. In an atmosphere of hysteria,they were convicted by an all-white jury and sentenced to life-plus. Later, both Morales and Shakurescaped prison and ended up in exile in Cuba; Acoli remains a political prisoner. Shakur has sincebeen ocially labeled a dangerous terrorist, and the U.S. government has oered a $1 millionbounty for her capture.

e Center, ironically directly beneath the oce suite of campus security, has remained under thecontrol of radical student groups since 1989. A large sign with its full name and pictures of Moralesand Shakur has been hanging outside the room above the door all that time. ere have beenvarious hassles over the years, including a still-pending lawsuit against the College for setting up a

disguised surveillance camera covering the room entrance.

On December 12, the Daily News, the second-most scurrilous rag among major New York tab-loids, ran a page-one photo of a young Black woman with a gun under the headline DISGRACE!,complaining that the sign over the student center has been named aer the notorious cop killer,Joanne Chesimard, Assata Shakurs given name. An inside headline read, Terrorists Laudedat CCNY. Other bourgeois media joined in the garish coverage. And although the City Collegeadministration at rst said it would not intervene, CUNY Chancellor Goldstein demanded thatthe sign be removed, and the College capitulated. e next night the sign was surreptitiously takendown by the authorities, and the students from the Center were told that they would be disciplinedif they put it back up.

e Colleges new-found concern about this terrorist in their midst is especially hypocritical,since they repeatedly bestow honors upon Colin Powell, a CCNY graduate who has had a dis-tinguished career involving planning mass slaughters in Panama and Iraq, covering up of the MyLai massacre in Vietnam, and lying (as he has now admitted) to the U.N. over Saddam Husseinsinvisible weapons of mass destruction. Most recently CCNY has proudly announced a $10 milliongrant to the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies on campus. - From marxists.org


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Chronology of Events12/11-12/15/2006 - Morales/Shakur Community Center

December 11, 20061. e Daily News publishes a letter from Sergey Kadinsky, a CCNY student who writes for the con-servative Campus newspaper and is a member of Hillel, about the naming of the center aer AssataShakur.2. e Daily News comes down to the Center to collect material for the story. ey conduct interviewsand take pictures without proper introduction, clearly in order to skew the story.December 12, 20061. e Daily News front page shows a doctored photograph of Assata Shakur under the headline Dis-

grace! e paper includes a special report and an editorial.2. e Daily News, New York Times, AP, Channel 2, FOX News, and other media outlets descent onthe Center. In response, SLAM! President Igwe. Williams and SER President/Centers Director Ro-dolfo Leyton issue a press statement clearing Assata Shakurs name, asserting academic f reedom, andthe right to organize on campus.3. Students from the Center put out a call for a December 15th community meeting at the Center.December 13, 20061. A group of students, including the Presidents of SLAM! and SER, SLAM! faculty advisor, andAttorney Ron McGuire attend scheduled meeting with Dr. Ramona Brown, Acting Vice-Presidentof Student Aairs. e meeting does not take place because the administration refuses reallow thestudents to have a lawyer present and to tape record the meeting.2. e group of students, SLAM!s faculty advisor, and Ron McGuire proceed upstairs to speak to CityCollege President Gregory H. Williams. He is said to be out of the oce and the students are directedto make and appointment to see him by Michael Rogovin, the Presidents Deputy and Chief of Sta.ree students and SLAM!s faculty advisor leave their contact information for President Williams.December 14, 2006

1. In the morning, students arrive at the Center to nd that the sign had been stolen overnight byPhysical Plant Services. A memo from VP Brown threatens students with suspension or expulsion ifthey attempt to replace the sign. e students le a complain with the Oce of Public Safety, report-ing the sign as stolen.2. e oce of Public Safety has the sign and release it only to Rodolfo Leyton, Director of the Center.When the sign is retrieved, it is missing the photographs of Assata Shakur and Guillermo Morales.e students le another complaint with Public Safety, this time to report vandalism.3. President Willaims oce is locked and empty when students attempt to deliver a memo informinghim of our willingness to meet.4. At 1pm, City Council representative Charles Barron holds a press conference at City Hall. e signis authorized to hold a rally in our space. e oce of StudentAairs does not contact the C enter.5. e coverage continues in the media, through articles, editorials, and radio interviews.December 15, 20061. A small rally protesting the naming of the center is held near City College gates on A msterdamAvenue and 137th Street.2. e Daily News published article ridiculing Bronx high school teacher for covering Assata Shakurin his 12th grade s ocial studies class.3. e community meeting is scheduled for 7:30pm.

PROES CCNYS INFRINGEMEN ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM & SUDEN RIGHS!



Justice for the CUNY 6In the events that unfolded around the appointment of David Petraeus, 6 CUNY students wererecently beaten and arrested by police for protesting his appointment to teach in the MacaulayHonors Program. e title of Petraeus class is: e Coming North American Decade(s)? Itwill highlight pro-fracking research, papers from entities like the industry-funded NationalEconomic Research Associates (NERA), and former Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) research professor Ernest Moniz.

is was completely unprovoked, as demonstrators made clear that they were there to defendour university in a peaceful protest.- City College student, Yexenia Vanegas

e Ad-Hoc Committee against the Militarization of CUNY consists of a number of leorganizations and even student groups like Students without Borders at Queens College andthe Internationalist Group. e Committee is centered on these key demands: 1)CUNY MustNot Be a War College and 2) War Criminal Petraeus, ROTC, Military Contracts, and MilitaryRecruiters Out of CUNY.

On September 9, 40 to 60 students, activists, and professors had protested Petraeus rst dayof classes. e protests highlight was shown on YouTube video which resulted in subsequentnews coverage showing Petraeus walking by himself on the streets of Upper Manhattan asCUNY student activists serenade Petraeus with chants of War Criminal. e committee thenprepared to protest an upcoming special gala event for Petraeus who originally was to be paid$200,000 for his semester at CUNY. His salary was met with so much widespread outrage thatCUNY reduced it to one dollar.

e brutal and unprovoked attack on the CUNY students and activists on September 17 wasmeant to answer for the protest on September 9 and give a warning message to other CUNYstudents who might join future protests. If you organize and speak out, you will receive batonsand brute force. In the wake of the police violence on September 17, CUNY students (LuisHenriquez, 25, Jose Disla, 25, Denise Ford, 24, Angelica Hernandez, 18, and Rafael Pena, 24)were charged with obstruction of governmental administration, riot, resisting arrest, and disor-derly conduct, enduring 28 hours in a cell aer being already beaten and bruised.

e ruling elite has shown again that they will answer dissent and organizing with surveillance,violent force and prison, as evident through the programs of stop and frisk and their nationalcoordinated attacks two years ago on Occupy protesters.-SocialistAlternative.org


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The CUNY Policy onExpressive Activity

Analysis from Professor Vitale (Brooklyn College)

CUNYs new dra policy on Expressive Activity in paying rhetorical allegiance to theimportant of a f ree exchange of ideas and expression of all points of view, makes the fundamentalmistake of equating protest with speech. roughout the document, the rig ht to protest is restricted byconcerns about order, disruption, and the rights of others. ese restrictions indicate a basic mis-understanding of the nature of the right to assembly as distinct from the right to freedom of speech. ere are many possible outlets for ideas including interpersonal speech, published writing,and social media. e right to assemble, however, involves the physical manifestation of p eople inspace as both an exercise in communication and an expression of power. As such it is inherently dis-

ruptive, disorderly, and interferes with the rights of others. A ny policy that attempts to eliminate thesequalities reduces protest to speech. e constitution specically protects the right to such manifestations by listing assembly asa right distinct from that of speech. e framers understood the importance of public gatherings inrallying opposition to the Crown and in holding colonial ocials accountable. It was not enough tocirculate pamphlets and make arguments, since the British government was only interested in exploit-ing the wealth of the colonies and had no interest in a considered debate. Both the constitution and case law do require that demonstrations be peaceable. islimit should not, however, be equated with orderly. e framers were concerned about limiting theinsurrectionist impulses of crowds not in micromanaging their assemblies. It is understood that publicassemblies involve an inconvenience to others. It is precisely the physicality of assembly that embod-ies its forcefulness in distinction to mere speech. Occupying streets, sidewalks, and public plazas andloudly and dramatically communicating to those nearby is precisely the point of political assembly. While we primarily associate universities with speech, protest has also been at the center ofuniversity life and the protest activities of students and faculty around the world has played a pivotalrole in shaping the modern political landscape. Pro-democracy demonstrations in China and SouthKorea, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations in the US and Europe, and Anti-Apartheid protest on col-leges around the world have shaped social movements, changed governments, and inspired millions totake political action.

CUNY management has a legitimate interest in ensuring the physical safety of the CUNYcommunity and in protecting the physical infrastructure of the university. But the proposed policygoes too far by tr ying to take the disorder out of assembly. Notication requirements, the establish-ment of restrictive protest zones, and the intent to forcibly terminate protests that threaten to disruptany aspect of life at the university are an unreasonable abridgement of the right to assemble. Furthermore, the process of draing this policy is another example of the CUNY admin-istrations disregard for the members of the university community. No eort was made to seriouslyengage students, faculty, or sta in the production of this policy. While CUNY claims its purpose isto protect the safety of students and employees, CUNY continues to tolerate more pressing threats tosafety by allowing bullying of sta by administrators, inadequately funding mental health and crisisintervention services, and failing to properly maintain buildings and campus infrastructures. e CUNY administration should immediately withdraw this policy from consideration andinitiate a much broader policy conversation that involves students, faculty and sta. In addition, anynew policy resulting from this process should rst be approved by appropriate governing bodies beforebeing considered by the Board of Trustees for adoption.

Alex S. Vitale is Associate Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College and writes about the policing of protests.Link to Proposed Expressive Policy to be voted on at the next Board of Trustees Meeting set to take

place on November 25th, 2013: http://www.cunyufs.org/EXPRESSIVEACTIVITIES.pdf

A Statement onSpeech and Protest

By Carlos Pazmino, CCNY Student

For all that has been done and protested in this particularly tumultuous semester in CUNY, noaction has met more institutional controversy and ideological unity than City Colleges closingof the Guillermo Morales/ Assata Shakur Community Center (MSCC). Aside from its history,its name, and its existence, the center proved to be more than just a clenched-sted quirk on thesouth side of the NAC. Behind its red doors a broad community thrived in assembly; a book ex-change was facilitated for students with nancial need, a farm-share fed Harlems most impover-

ished addresses, and political dissent was administered by a broad coalition of both institutionaland revolutionary students.e debate and admonition created by critics, shaming the college for the existence

of the MSCC, was ignored by the community the center served. Mainly due to the importanceand necessity of the services provided. But on the night of Saturday October 19th, City Collegeseemed to have had enough and claimed the space to expand its Career and Professional Insti-tute.No message was sent to the director of the center, all the property inside the space was movedto a safe space in-presumed- Shepard hall, and security began to increase on the twilight hoursof Sunday October 20th.As expected, the centers community united in protest against the colleges action. But whilstcoordinated protocol followed suit to an arrest, s omething strange happened, the entire NorthAcademic Center was shut down. e colleges library, whose hours ironically were extended formidterms to serve a 24/7 schedule based on victories from the activists who organized in theMSCC, was shut down. Students inside the NAC were stuck without exit. e protesters, nowgrowing in numbers with angered students wanting to study for their midterms, were demand-ing answers from an increasingly dodgy Public Safety.It would be wise to note that this piece is not just being written to detail the events that

transpired midterms week, but to highlight a disturbing trend in our college and our university

system. Measures have been draed by the Board of Trustees to regulate and update the Univer-sitys policy on expression. Behind a cautious message of respect of freedom speech, the B oardis set on passing new ru les in which protests can be administered. ese measures arent justaecting students who participate in dissent, but f aculty who stand in solidarity.e central executive body of CUNY intends to do what the Democratic and RepublicanNational Committees have done in response to protests, the implementation of regulated freespeech in the vicinity of the campuses. Calling it e City University of New York Policy onExpressive Activities, the current Board of Trustees will approve a plan that further expands therole of the New York Police Department inside the University, and through broad legal languageenforces, making loud noise that s eriously threatens to interfere with classes, absolutely pro-hibited and may refer the matter to external law enforcement authorities (CUNY, 2013).is policy eectively shuts up the protestors CUNY-wide, which I can imagine is the point andis supported by the people who are annoyed by the are of sudden anger against the school.But that seeming annoyance, that complete rejection of expression and speech takes away whatmakes our system valid and democratic. It criminalizes speech and it creates a wall of authorityagainst criticism over a system that deserves to be criticized.


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#reasons4 Campaign

We want to know:Why is the MSCC important to you?ere are a few ways you can tell us.

1. You can tweet about it using the hashtag#reasons4.2. You can take a picture of yourself holdinga paper with the reason and post it on ourfacebook and/or twitter account with thehashtag #reasons4 and we will repost.3. During an event, we will have an individ-ual interviewing and asking supporters for

their reason and then we will post it on ourfacebook page.

#reasons4#savemscc

#ccnyshutdown

What supporters of these measures dont understand is the full extent of the promise of democ-racy. ey pretend like democracy should be a front-page Vogue catalogue of civilized dialogue,when in fact the notion could not be further from the truth. e truth about democracy is thatdemocracy is ugly, its edges are rough, and democratic dialogue is oen coarse and divisive. Butits the process of rening those course edges that builds a more perfect democratic union.For the sake of order and authority we should be very cynical to motions that oer the easiest

way out. Agreeing to these measures is the easiest response to a more systemic problem. Fromcollected experience I can tell you that the protests are not being administered by people whowant to create willing chaos, they are trying to make a statement to the student body and theNew York taxpayer. A statement with a message to the problems we deal with everyday in ourcollege. A message that places focus on the payment rates of CUNYs top ocials, some whomake more than the President of the United States. ey are making a statement based on therising tuition, an increasing $300 yearly dollars that dont seem to go to xing our mediocrefacilities, employment programs, and whose success varies more on their stories of failure thantheir tangible successes. Protesters have every right to also focus on the uncomfortable role ofthe military in our school, a valid response when military action faces record cynicism acrossthe board in the United States and ROTC suddenly comes back aer 40 years.When these problems are so agrant in our schools, when the access to education is met withmore struggle than its worth, this public institution deserves to be subject to its constituency.When a community center oers more alternatives to a more aordable education than theschool, and this community center is closed down at the de ad of night, its only crime beingservicing its community, the constituency is more than entitled to demand answers. ats thedierence between CUNY and a private institution like Columbia. CUNY oers a public serviceand it is subject to our constitutional laws at a more direct level. CUNYs share of the taxpayersburden leaves them also subject to be responsible to the success of their institutions. reaten-ing their employees, and their student body, with authoritarian measures to quiet them downalso subjects the taxpayer with these motions. Us, the taxpayers and residents of New York, haveevery right to protest and demand answers and not hold us subject to agrant violations to ourlaws.Us, the students, and New York taxpayers, should be outraged at the administrations reaction tothese protests. Us, the students, and taxpayers, should be outraged at the suppression of our freespeech. We should be outraged at the fact that our College President, and her administration,would be so unwilling to use diplomacy with the students of the MSCC and, adding insult toinjury, ignoring the name of the center in her emails. Instead the subsequent reaction to theappropriation of the space led to public safety shutting down the NAC several times and sub-sequently arresting of an unrelated student trying to leave his own school. In fact, the failure ofleadership and communication with one group of students should never castigate an entire stu-dent body. We should be outraged at the schools decision to suspend two of its students, whomhad every right to organize and protest peacefully. e same way we should keep our directpublic ocials accountable, we should direct our ire at the larger system. Because the unelectedCUNY Board of Trustees failure to address systematic problems in their system should neverpunish the constitutional liberties of the larger CUNY community. Leave the protesters alone.

A Statement onSpeech and Protest

Continued


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An Open Letter to the Students of

City College - Alyssia OsorioDear Students,

e Morales Shakur Center was won in 1989 through an student and community occupation by theclub Students for Educational Rights, it was established as a student and community Center, aimingto ght back against the college administration who was continuously shutting the community outthrough tuition increases and budget cuts. It is not a coincidence that the removal of our centercomes when the resurgence of CUNY-wide activism. e Ad-Hoc Committee Against the Militariza-tion of CUNY had 60 person meetings in our center. We see more funding to public safety and lessfunding towards repairing our crumbling infrastructure. I should not go to a school where Ive seenpublic safety ocers beat up my friends, and I also have to worry about leaks, rodents, and broken

oors in my classrooms. is is a larger question systemically, why are our institutions starved forfunding so that corporate interests are taking over? Head over to Liberate CUNY Front for some infoon the big picture analysis.

Aer the protest, I keep hearing students being critical of what protests can actually do. I can tell younow - A LOT. Last semester, I was apart of a national network of students fed up with the businesspractices of Sallie Mae. Sallie Mae is a student loan company that has been sued in the past for racialdiscrimination, and personally I did a plan with them where they were supposed to split my tuitioninto thirds. ey charged me all of my tuition at once and my bank account was overdrawn so Icouldnt do things like pay rent, and eat. When I tried everything and called their customer service,

they gave me two options, deal with it or sue. So many students were fed up, that they started pro-testing, nationally. rough these protests, the CEO stepped down, and the company split into two.Students, organizations, and labor leaders confronted the company at their shareholders meetingand won a meeting with the new CEO. Aer the meeting, where pressure continued, Sallie Mae lethe American Legislative Exchange Council, which was one of our demands.

But in order to get the center back, we need mass protests, we need to unite with each other. Weneed to use our privileges and our resources to put pressure on CUNY Central and City Collegeadministration. We need to take personal responsibility for ourselves and our school, while buildinga collective consciousness about whats going on. is isnt only a ght for the radicals, this is a ghtfor everyone that needs a safe space or a community, that cant aord printing unless its free, thatthinks people should have a right to claim space that isnt controlled by administration, that we havea right to study in a library WHEN WE NEED TO, rather than when the school arbitrarily decides toopen its doors. e ght for this center is pivotal in guring out who this school is for, the studentsand community, or the administration. I truly believe that each and every one of us has power, andwe can make the change that we want to see in our communities (including our student community)if we are dedicated to putting our energy towards upliing and building ourselves and each other.

So what you can do is attend our events, which will from now on, be listed on this wordpress andshared with our facebook page, share news articles, let the folks around you know whats goingon, get the people in power you know to issue statements of solidarity with our struggle, wear red

squares to symbolize the door that was taken away from us (just buy some felt, cut it up, pin it,then share the rest of the squares with your friends!) and if you want to get deeply involved, [email protected] and well gure out where youre needed most. If you can,I would also contact Chancellor Kelly and President Lisa to tell them how you really feel.

Love and Solidarity,Alyssia OsorioStudents For Educational Rights, PresidentDirector of e Morales Shakur Center

Save the Morales Shakur Center Zine

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